Baby Saved by Fetal Heart Surgery

By Liz Townsend

For the first time in Canada, a baby survived fetal surgery to correct a narrowed heart valve and is now thriving. Océane McKenzie, born at six pounds, one ounce one month after the surgery, is expected to return home to Gatineau, Quebec, soon, according to the Ottawa Citizen.

"I think it opens up all sorts of opportunities for the future ... it's something we can offer to other babies," Dr. Greg Ryan, chief of the fetal medicine unit at Mount Sinai Hospital, told Canadian Press (CP). "I think the important thing is getting the message out to the referring physicians that this is something that's now available in Canada."

Océane's parents, Vicki and Ian McKenzie, discovered that their unborn baby girl had critical aortic stenosis, a narrowing of the left ventricle's main outlet valve, at 30 weeks into the pregnancy, the Ottawa Citizen reported. If not treated, the baby could have died of heart failure or the condition would have developed into hypoplastic left heart syndrome, with a 10-year survival rate of only 65%, according to CP.

Although the procedure had not yet been successful in Canada, doctors at the Hospital for Sick Children and Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto believed that the McKenzies' baby was a good candidate for the surgery. "It can only be offered to a few babies in utero who are detected at the correct stage and when their aorta hasn't yet narrowed too much," Dr. Edgar Jaeggi, head of the fetal cardiac program at the Hospital for Sick Children, told CP. "This baby came to us at just the right time."

The operation took place just three days after the diagnosis, on March 19. The doctors inserted a needle into Vicki McKenzie's womb and then into the baby's heart. A tiny balloon catheter was placed into the aorta, where it would widen the valve, according to the Toronto Star.

Océane survived the surgery and was born one month later on April 15. She has since undergone two more operations to further widen the valve, and may need an aorta transplant when she is older, the Ottawa Citizen reported. But her parents, along with two older brothers, are thrilled she is doing well and can come home.

"Finally after two months, we can say we're a lot more relaxed and confident that she is going to be home and live a normal life," Vicki McKenzie told CP. "Modern science, modern medicine is amazing. And we're so happy it was able to give us a chance to be a family of five."